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Did you ever wonder why cheap wine tastes better in fancy glasses? Why sales of Macintosh computers soared when Apple introduced the colorful iMac? New research on emotion and cognition has shown that attractive things really do work better, a fact fans of Don Norman's classic The Design of Everyday Things cannot afford to ignore.In recent years, the design community has focused on making products easier to use. But as Norman amply demonstrates in this fascinating and important new book, design experts have vastly underestimated the role of emotion on our experience of everyday objects.Emotional Design analyzes the profound influence of this deceptively simple idea, from our willingness to spend thousands of dollars on Gucci bags and Rolex watches to the impact of emotion on the everyday objects of tomorrow. In the future, will inanimate objects respond to human emotions? Is it possible to create emotional robots?Norman addresses these provocative questions--drawing on a wealth of examples and the latest scientific insights--in this bold exploration of the objects in our everyday world.

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Kind of picking at Donald A. Norman double standards between his books, his newer titles seem to have a more open outlook. He has some good ideas and insights, but I do not think this is the whole picture of design. I would recommend reading more stuff fromHerbert A. Simon

"An interesting exception to these problems comes when designers or engineers are building something for themselves that they will frequently use in their own everyday lives. Such products tend to excel. As a result, the best products today, from a behavioral point of view, are often those that come from the athletic, sports, and craft industries, because these products do get designed, purchased, and used by people who put behavior above everything else. Go to a good hardware store and examine the hand tools used by gardeners, woodworkers, and machinists. These tools, developed over centuries of use, are carefully designed to feel good, to be balanced, to give precise feedback, and to perform well. Go to a good outfitter’s shop and look at a mountain climber’s tools or at the tents and backpacks used by serious hikers and campers. Or go to a professional chef’s supply house and examine what real chefs buy and use in their kitchens."

Norman, Don (2007-03-20). Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things (p. 82). Basic Books. Kindle Edition."Engineers and other logical people tend to dismiss the visceralresponse as irrelevant. Engineers are proud of the inherent quality of their work and dismayed when inferior products sell better “just because they look better.” But all of us make these kinds of judgments, even those very logical engineers. That’s why they love some of their tools and dislike others. Visceral responses matter."

Like many of the other reviewers, I would like to state that I firmly see Don Norman as one of the leading researchers in the field of design. His two main design books have changed the way design is done nowadays, and had a huge impact on user experience design (the field I have been working in myself for many years). However, it was written in 2004, and unfortunately, it keeps picking examples that have long been superceded by new designs that are much better than the things Don Norman suggested. Strongest case in point are the recent generations of smartphones that go way beyond Norman's wildest dreams. And that is the problem of the book: because his imagination wasn't strong enough, the second half of the book feels very outdated, and after I had finished the book, I cursed myself for not just stopping after the first hundred pages or so.

The book starts well and comes straight to the point of Norman's main theory: design perception happens on a visceral, behavioural and a reflective level. He then continues with his explanation of what that means for design. This is all pretty good stuff, and although it's quite theoretical, it's easy to see that there is a lot of clever thinking involved. This theory is the reason why I gave the book 3 stars and not 2 - students of design should be acquainted with this theory, and I'm a strong believer in students hearing theories from the horse's mouth. However, I would then continue to recommend reading it until examples and predictions of the future start, and then simply put the book down and tell everybody you've read the whole thing. Nobody will challenge you on that.

Donald Norman has always written "usable" books. Easy to read and full of anecdotes and examples that nearly everyone can relate to. His classic work, The Design of Everyday Things, still sits proundly on my bookshelf; I pull it down a couple times a year when I need a mental refreshment.

This book, like its predecessors, is a fast read. It is written at a low level and nothing in it is too hard to grasp. However, it is too long. I found myself skipping whole paragraphs simply because Normas was repeating something he had written just a few sentences back. I feel the book could be half its length and not lose any content.

It's also not as inspirational as his previous books. There were none of the "a ha!" insights that permeated The Design of Everyday Things or Turn Signals Are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles.

Still, it's a good read. The next time I'm in the store, I'll be more cognizant of the reasons why I prefer one brand over another of otherwise identical products.

I'm torn on recommending this book. The positive part is that the author says that humans have three ways of processing something they see and use: Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective. That's a good premise, and basic examples are used to demonstrate each type of processing.

The following examples are good: The teapots, the souvenir monument, the two watches, Pirovano's tea strainer, Phillippe Starck's "Juicy Salif" juicer. The "poor chair" picture is also good, though it's not discussed much.

However, after the initial premise is stated the book seems to go on for a while, and as I was reading some pages I found myself wondering, "What was this chapter supposed to be about?" I also found myself wanting more, better examples, and more contrast, such as showing, "Here are two products in the same category, and this is why Product A is good and Product B is not." As the book is about emotional design, I thought it also needed many more photos of products, again possibly showing good/interesting design vs. bad.